Kadri Ecvet Tezcan – Do you want me to respond in the interview as a diplomat, which will be boring? Or should I respond as someone who has lived in Vienna for a year and has many contacts with the 250,000 Turks here?

Turkey is one the most experienced country in the world in combating religionist terrorism since it has always been one of the targets of the religionist terrorist organization including Hezbollah, Ibda-C and Al Qaeda. 99 % of Turkish population is Muslim and the relatively poor economic circumstances in certain regions of the country, rapid social, political and economic transformation to catch up the EU level and other reasons provide a suitable environment for terrorist and extremist organizations in Turkey. Another crucial reason which lures the terrorists to Turkish territories is Turkey?s location: The most volatile regions, like the Middle East, Balkans and the Caucasus surround Turkey. Iran, Syria and Iraq, all are Turkey?s neighbors and Turkey has thousands of kilometers difficult borders with these countries. Al Qaeda is very active in Syria and Iraq. Iran and Iraq on the other hand both are capitals of the Shiite extremism.

Erdogan is willing to participate in missile defense shield but only if #Turkey is given significant control over project (Turkish media)

A hard-hitting, deeply felt critique of the Turkish and foreign press by Claire Berlinski (click here for full text). I would have liked a clearer statement about corruption, conservatism, and intolerance across the board, though, not only targeting the AKP. There are some very credible hair-raising polls about just how intolerant the Turkish population is of anyone who is different. (Carkoglu, Kalaycioglu, Toprak, etc. ? all are linked to on this blog somewhere, likely under ?State of the Nation? or ?Rights?). While the media and the government play a role in arousing intolerance in the population, this has a long history and is not (as Berlinski herself states at the end) linked to Islam per se. It is a more entrenched cultural and historical problem that the Turkish media and governments (of all persuasions) can easily whip up when it is in their interest and aim at one or another group.